Does building in public get you customers? 7 founders disagree
By Maya · Updated
Does building in public get you customers?
On its own, rarely. Nevo David says posting your progress on X won't get you to 100 trials a week. But KP built a career on eight years of it, Rob Hallam found his agency clients by posting his wins, and Martin Donadieu says openness is the one edge copycats can't take. Frederick James now builds his apps privately.
Answered by 7 founders on BuildingNow
Nevo David
Founder, Postiz
Not as a growth channel
Nevo grew Postiz to $200K MRR, mostly through Reddit, open source and viral formats. He's blunt that posting your progress on X every day won't scale into a steady flow of trials, so he doesn't treat it as a customer channel.
“It can give you one or two people trying this. But you will not be able to get into this situation that you get, okay, 100 people are doing trials per week.”
KP
Head of Community, Netlify
Yes, if you stick with one idea for years
KP has been known as the build in public guy since 2018. Both his job at Netlify and the one before it, at Paddle, started with someone finding him on Twitter. He says the returns come late, and he welcomes competition rather than hiding from it.
“The magic is not in the phrase. The magic is in choosing what you actually believe in and taking a simple idea very, very seriously.”
Rob Hallam
Cofounder, Super X
Yes, when you post your wins
Every client of Rob's agency came inbound from X. He posted client wins, people messaged him, booked a call and signed, and each new client gave him something new to post. That agency work is also where the idea for Super X came from.
“So I posted on X about sharing the wins. People would DM me and say, Hey, we'd love to work with you.”
Martin Donadieu
Founder, Capgo
Yes, even with copycats
Martin briefly went quiet after a copycat started releasing everything he shipped. He came back to building in public because the feedback and the conversations it brings are the part nobody can copy.
“You can copy as much as you want, but you cannot copy the conversation I have.”
Frederick James
App founder
Keep the app private, share the lessons
Frederick grew from 900 to 8,500 followers by documenting his journey on X, but built his app in stealth. He thinks that, for apps, the default has flipped to private, and the lessons should be shared without the exact recipe.
“I think the default is now to build it privately. I think it's flipped, at least in the app space.”
Selene Lee
Founder, SocialCrawl
Yes, start before you launch
Selene's earlier products failed when she outsourced marketing and spent on ads. For SocialCrawl she built in public first: about 5,000 followers on Threads and 1,000 on X before launch. Not a big audience, but enough to start the first wave of users.
“But just having that online presence really helped a lot.”
Elitza Vasileva
Founder, own.page
Yes, it's where her community came from
Elitza's posts on X felt like talking into the void for months. Then a post with about 2.4 million views brought signups through her bio, and the same community found her a Product Hunt hunter, a hacker residency and the support that carried her launch.
“So actually, the biggest amplifier for me was X.”
Where they agree
- Sharing on its own isn't a customer channel. It works when it reaches people who could buy.
- Copying is faster than ever, so the edge is consistency and relationships, not keeping the idea secret.
- Share what's useful to someone else: real numbers, mistakes and wins, not just that you're still building.
More questions
Is building in public still worth it with AI copycats?
Most guests say yes. As KP puts it, cloning an app used to take a week and now takes about an hour, but he and Martin Donadieu argue the relationships, DMs and conversations can't be copied. Frederick James is the exception: for apps, he builds privately and shares the lessons instead.
What should you post when building in public?
Posts that are useful to someone else: real numbers, mistakes, and wins with a lesson in them. Rob Hallam's agency clients came from posts sharing client wins. Updates that only say you're still building rarely bring anyone in.
How long does building in public take to work?
Years, not weeks. KP has been consistent with one idea since 2018 and says the biggest rewards come in the second half. Nevo David's view is that it won't replace a real acquisition channel in the meantime.
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